


fox hole

by larkspear



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Introspection, Other, Season/Series 06, assholes snarking at each other, i will give black siren introspection if canon won't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 18:50:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13464372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larkspear/pseuds/larkspear
Summary: Maybe Cayden James is clever enough to sniff out what she's hiding under all this impatience, but Laurel's averygood liar.





	fox hole

**Author's Note:**

> i enjoy how much cayden and black siren seem to lowkey hate each other, and black siren deserves some introspection. 
> 
> set ambiguously after 6x10.

Things go back to the way they always do. The same frustratingly quiet way that they always do. Letting Oliver slip out of their fingers _again_ , and then just laying low and planning the next move and setting up whatever the hell it is Cayden is doing. Black Siren doesn't consider herself an impatient person, but god, she is is tired of _waiting_.

Today, for the "if she starts trying to keep track of how many days it’s been she’ll go as crazy as everyone thinks she is" day in a row, she's stuck with nothing better to do than sit on the edge of the desk in Cayden's current hidey-hole while he does whatever computer bullshit he does. He doesn't want anyone dead or scared right now so she’s relegated to being his guard dog while he works. It's only a slight step up from imprisonment. 

Sometimes when his other lackeys - "friends", he prefers to call them, which she finds ridiculous - are around, she likes to lean against doorways. It's an old intimidation technique she learned back on Earth-2. The other metas in Zoom's army learned that it meant that she was both bored and unthreatened by their presence (an extremely dangerous combination). It doesn't work so well on Cayden, damn him and his baffling composure. 

Now she settles for just lingering where she can watch him out of the corner of her eye. Not that it really matters - his two settings are "doing hacking bullshit" and "doing hacking bullshit while giving a lecture". 

"Ms. Lance." Ah, right on time. He doesn't even look up from his screen. "I'm beginning to sense that your irritability stems from more than just impatience." 

"You didn't hire me to be cheerful," Laurel returns, careful to give only a reasonable amount of annoyance and deflection. 

"Actually, I didn't hire you at all. But that's beside the point." Cayden leans back in his chair and swivels slightly to look at her. "You are _incredibly_ eager to see Oliver Queen dead." 

There's a lot of ways this could go, and Laurel doesn’t like any of them. So she fixes him with a faintly amused smile. "I thought that was the whole point of this little venture." 

"My concern is not your goal. My concern is the possibility that you might do something... rash." He gets a particular look, and sudden she's afraid he's going to go droning on with some inane quote– " 'Patience is bitter, but...' " Yes, there it is. She automatically tunes out the rest of it. 

There's a long pause. "Why do you want Oliver dead, Ms. Lance?" 

Really, wanting Oliver dead is a rather new phenomenon. With Chase, on the island, she hadn't really cared. At one point, she'd even been only a few heartbeats away from joining him, but... well, all you need is one _but_ , and then it all falls apart. It's a little hard to tell when that turned to hatred. 

"I didn't think I needed to lay out all of Oliver's crimes, to _you_ of all people," Laurel offers guardedly. She spices it up with a faint hint of bitter amusement, to better satisfy him. Cayden is not... unstable in the way that Zoom or Chase were, but old habits die hard. 

"No, I don't think that's it," Cayden drawls slowly. He’s still watching her instead of his precious screen, which might just be the most frustrating thing. "If it was about how they treated you, you'd hate the rest of his team just as much. On the contrary, you’ve been quite focused on him in particular." Cayden tilts his head just slightly. "Mind telling me why?" 

Laurel falls into her careful stillness, which she’s designed to reveal nothing. Maybe some part of her doesn't actually want Oliver dead. It’s the part of her that aches because she can almost see how the Ollie she knew became the Ollie that she doesn't. The same part of her that can’t bring herself to hurt the man who looks like her father. It’s a part of her that Cayden doesn't know about, and that he never can know about, because she knows better than to expose herself as a liability. 

There's a part of her that's always going to be stuck in that cage and looking out at Oliver between the bars. This whole Earth is just one big cage and no matter how many statues she destroys, she'll never be free. Felicity had said _you should get used to living in cages_ but oh, Felicity had no idea. 

Poor little Felicity. Pretty little Felicity. Perfect little Felicity. ( _Perfect little Laurel_ ). 

That's the heart of the problem, then. Oliver has everything, even if he doesn't realize it. He has his wife and he has his son, he has his friends, he has his family - or the remnants of it - he has his purpose, he has his city. There is always someone for Oliver to go home to who will tell him that they love him. He has everything that she's lost. 

If Laurel's being honest, she doesn't actually want Oliver dead. She just doesn't know how else to focus her misery. 

But Laurel's never honest. 

"If Oliver Queen had his way, I'd be rotting in a cage so deep underground that nobody would ever know I existed." She pours just enough anger into it to make it close to real, and maybe to scare Cayden a little. "Is that a satisfactory answer to you?" 

Cayden looks not entirely convinced. Laurel bites down the desire to destroy him and all his fancy equipment and tries something else. 

"While we're having this little bonding moment," She drawls, and seamlessly slides off of the desk to circle behind him and brush her fingers over the top of his chair, "Why do _you_ want Oliver Queen dead? You’ve never been particularly open about it." 

"All in good time, Ms. Lance," Cayden replies smoothly, "I know most wisdom is lost on your generation, but even you should know of the idea that revenge is a dish best served cold." 

Laurel hums in response to that, and settles with leaning against the desk on his other side. "Still, I don't enjoy letting my prey escape." 

"Think of it like a fox hunt." Cayden returns to his monitor and tapping away at his latest plan. "The thrill is in the chase." 

She's still not entirely sure who's the fox in this metaphor. 


End file.
